"It's possible that people are coming to the Austin Zen Center or
any other spiritual practice because of the world we live in," said
Sozan Scheilin of the Austin Zen Center. "It's violent, it's commercial,
based on money completely."

Located
in an older neighborhood near the University of Texas campus, the Austin
Zen Center offers an alternative way to practice spirituality. Although
many consider the practice of Zen Buddhism their primary method of being
spiritual, many who come to the Austin Zen Center practice other faiths
as well.

"Is
Buddhism a religion or is Zen a religion?" asks Selrin Barbara Kohn.
"If you are saying is Zen theistic or deistic. No, it is not. But
if you are looking at a way of life which looks at how is it that things
are, that is concerned with ethics and how we treat one another than it
is very much a religion."

Zen Buddhism -- steeped in Japanese tradition -- teaches about the here
and now through meditation, according to Kohn. But it is not a religion
that deals with metaphysics.

Although many associate Zen Buddhism with sitting cross-legged on the
floor, how you practice this faith is really up to you. Find out more
about Austin's Zen Center.